First Post: The Story So Far

Hallo. I’m Scot Nolan, though you might know me from reviewing and discussing bad movies over the past ten years as “Nolahn.” But this is a new start to a whole new venture, and it seems appropriate to shed the “Nolahn” moniker – especially given what this new blog is all about.

Nolahn, wearer of rabbit ears, 2007-2018

Let me get you up to speed: I’ve known ever since I was a wee lad that I wanted to be a writer, and I’ve been fortunate enough to do exactly that in a number of different formats and media. In 2007, I launched a website reviewing bad movies called Bargain Bin Review. That led to all sorts of great stuff: meeting great folks through the Large Association of MovieBloggers (LAMB), co-hosting The Lair of the Unwanted podcast, running recurring features in the Utica Observer-Dispatch, hosting live movie events, creating a joint website with two friends I made through LAMB, hosting Sunday movies on a local cable station and, ultimately, publishing a book of reviews. 

It’s been a fantastic experience and I’ve loved every minute of it… but it’s time to try something new. This is something I’d been thinking about for a while, and about a year ago I decided it was time to take on a new challenge.

I wasn’t kidding about the “challenge” part: I’ve been working on a novel, and my ultimately goal is to sign on with a literary agent and get published through a traditional publishing house. Oh, and in case switching gears from short, cheeky non-fiction pieces to long-form, decidedly not-cheeky fiction wasn’t challenging enough, I’m writing a mystery. 

It’s a pretty tall order but I might as well aim high, right?

The primary focus of this blog will be to follow along with my experience as I bumble my way toward my goals. I’ll write about the things I’ve learned along the way, but because I’m most definitely not going to be writing from the perspective on a capital-E Expert, any comments from the peanut section below will always be appreciated.

And yes, I’ll still mix things up with occasional off-topic features. I can take the cheekiness out of my writing, but that doesn’t mean I’m taking the cheekiness out of me.

I plan to post twice a week. I'm going to put a few extra items up this week just so there's something here, but look for my first "Write On" post about my new project next Tuesday.

Wish me luck.